Did you know that the shoulders are among the most used muscle groups in the human body? Yet they’re often neglected in many workout routines. The shoulder joint has the greatest range of motion of all the joints, which makes it both essential and vulnerable. Strong, toned shoulders are key not only for good posture but also for performance in many physical activities. In this article, we share our best training tips to help you to strengthen your shoulders in just 90 minutes per week.

Why Is It Important to Strengthen Your Shoulders?

Building strong and defined shoulders provides multiple benefits:

  • Greater strength for everyday tasks: Carrying grocery bags or lifting objects becomes easier.
  • Injury prevention: The shoulder’s wide range of motion makes it more prone to injury. Strengthening the surrounding muscles helps protect it.
  • Improved posture: Strong shoulders support better spinal alignment.
  • Boosted confidence: Toned shoulders significantly enhance your physical appearance and help you feel better about yourself.

These tips will help you sculpt strong, resilient shoulders. Get ready to take on the challenge!

Understanding Shoulder Anatomy

Before starting your training program, it’s important to understand basic anatomy. The shoulder consists of several key muscles, including:

  • Deltoids
  • Trapezius
  • Rotator cuff muscles

Knowing how these muscles work allows you to target them more effectively and get better results.

Free Weight Training

Free weights are one of the most effective tools for shoulder development. Exercises like the military press, lateral raises, and shrugs are great for isolating and strengthening the delts and traps. Make sure to use appropriate weight and maintain proper form to avoid injury.

Using Muscle Stimulation for Extra Gains

Muscle stimulation devices like those offered by Compex can be an excellent complement to your workouts. By applying electrodes to targeted muscle areas, electrostimulation activates muscle fibers more deeply, promoting both strength and endurance gains, as well as faster recovery.

We recommend using the Explosive Strength program to build both force and speed in your muscle contractions, targeting fast-twitch fibers (type IIb) efficiently.

💡 Not sure where to place the electrodes or how to adjust intensity? Download the free Compex Coach app for guidance.

Functional Exercises for Long-Term Shoulder Health

In addition to isolated movements, it's crucial to integrate functional exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, and burpees. These exercises engage multiple upper-body muscle groups, including the shoulders, improving overall stability and coordination.

Stabilizer Muscle Strengthening

Don’t neglect the smaller stabilising muscles around the shoulders. This includes the rhomboids, rotator cuff, and upper back muscles. Strengthening these muscles ensures better posture and protects against injury.

Exercise Variety and Progressive Overload

Varying your shoulder exercises is key to hitting all angles. Include:

  • Front raises
  • Y- and T-raises
  • External rotations

Gradually increase weights or reps over time to keep challenging your muscles and avoid plateauing.

Don’t Skip Warm-Up and Stretching

Before starting your session, warm up with light cardio and mobility drills. After training, stretch thoroughly to improve flexibility and boost muscle recovery.

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Your 90-Minute Weekly Shoulder Plan

Here are two workout sessions you can repeat weekly to give 90 minutes totalof targeted shoulder training.

Session #1: Functional Training (45 minutes)

Goal: Build overall shoulder capacity.

Structure:

  • Warm-up: 5 min SkiErg or rower + 5 min resistance band movements
  • Mobility: 10 minutes of shoulder mobility work
  • Workout of the Day (WOD):
    Complete as many rounds as possible in 18 minutes:
    • 800m row
    • 21 pull-ups
    • 15 push jerks with 2 dumbbells
    • 9 target burpees
  • Cool-down: 5 minutes of stretching

Session #2: Muscle Strengthening (45 minutes)

Goal: Deep, focused shoulder strengthening

Structure:

  • Warm-up: 5 min SkiErg or rower + 5 min resistance band drills
  • Compex session: 25 minutes using the Strength program
  • Supplementary work (10 minutes):
    • Dumbbell seated military press: 4 sets of 12 reps
    • 3 supersets of:
      • 15 lateral raises
      • 15 dumbbell shrugs (back-to-back)

✅ Time to Take Action!

By combining functional training, specific strengthening exercises, and deep activation with electrostimulation, while also respecting warm-ups and stretching, you’ll have everything you need to build strong, healthy, and toned shoulders over the long term.

Ready to transform your shoulders?

Proven Effectiveness

Backed by clinical studies proving their effectiveness, Compex stimulators also belong to the category of Class II medical devices. They also meet the needs of the European Medical Standard 93/42 EEC.

Compex - Always with you

We're on the side of athletes, amateurs and ordinary people, from the search for improved performance to post injury recovery, from post fatigue massage to pain treatment. At Compex, we have just one goal: people's well being.

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